Hating on a Hater – The Ultimate in Wasting Time

Why do haters like to hate? Even now I am sitting here looking out the windows on a gorgeous sunny morning and my brow is furrowed, lips slightly pursed and brain twisted. I am trying to write a post about haters and here I am hating on the haters. I guess it’s like a shame spiral.

I just read an article on philly.com’s Living section (philly.com is the website companion to The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Daily News newspapers in the Philadelphia area) about Bruce Springsteen’s daughter riding in the very prestigious Grand Prix event at the Devon Horse Show. It was a nice little piece about an extremely talented young woman. She is one of the best in the nation and she also attends Duke, majoring in psychology. The few comments there were were almost all about how she is rich and can do what she wants. Lovely.

As I read the comments (and made a few of my own) I started to realize what haters are really all about.

Absolutely nothing.

Haters clomp onto a subject matter that is not even relevant to the topic and then proceed to spew their misinformed opinion about the entire topic, never stopping to realize that they are not even being topical let alone knowledgeable. They they create a paper podium to stand on/behind not stopping to realize that a bright five year old could tear it all down in a matter of seconds with actual knowledge. I should be able to ignore them knowing that they really have nothing to stand on and are probably not very bright.

But I can’t. They make me mad and I feel the need to educate even though I know it will probably do no good at all. Haters don’t take education very well. It might open their minds and then they would have to think more. Ew.

So how do you handle haters; ones that directly hate something you wrote or haters you read about elsewhere?

It’s an exercise in frustration, that’s for sure, and I honestly feel like you articulated things so eloquently that anything I add will sound trite. For me, I have to remember that those who need to hear something are often the last to listen. They don’t want to listen, they want to hear themselves talk and just add to the noise. In our “connected” society today, the opportunity to do that is a million times more available, and people can hide behind that “paper podium” that you speak off with relatively little accountability.

“Haters clomp onto a subject matter that is not even relevant to the
topic and then proceed to spew their misinformed opinion about the
entire topic, never stopping to realize that they are not even being
topical let alone knowledgeable.”

Exactly. All I can do is not add to the noise, to remember that what I say and what I believe is authentic and true and that no one else can tear me down. Easier said than done, of course, but anything else is disheartening. Fabulous post

scargosun

Abby – can’t thank you enough!

http://twitter.com/bestoffates Megan Wittling

I tend to ignore them. ‘Cause even though I always want to turn it into a joke I afraid it’s gonna get super mean and then my feelings will be all hurt. Still, my favorite response to haters is always laughter.